I went down to the University of Illinois for the September 14th, 1990 concert by Midnight Oil at Assembly Hall, hitting the show with David Douglass and staying with him at Koinonia, while also working in a visit with Angie while I was there. The band was the best I had ever seen for being able to reproduce the quality of their studio sound in live performance, which I had come to be used to the idea that that wasn't really possible in a live setting. A band called The Origin opened up for them that was kind of interesting, but I couldn't decide what I really thought about their singer, which is all I really recall about that.

Before the Oils began their set, an announcer let everyone know that photography was strictly forbidden. This didn't stop someone from opening up with a professional-level flash during the opening number, causing Peter Garrett to leap into the audience once he'd finished his current verse. His immense frame began swimming over the crowd, which only came up to his waist as he walking on the empty seats vacated by the standing audience. He worked his way back to the photographer and reamed him out while the band held their place, just sort of jamming and watching the action. Then Garrett worked his way back to stage and finished the tune. David had viewed the whole thing with what I took to be mock alarm, seeing the immense figure of Garrett coming our way and beginning to jabber, "Oh no! He's coming for me! He's going to kill me!!" It kinda looked all apocalyptic like that, to see this giant bald spider of a man swim above the people and moving in your direction.

After the show, we discovered that Dave's roommate had been hanging with one of the roadies and had scored The Green Disc, which the roadie described as something the band had put together for them. And so I felt lucky when I ended up with a copy of that.

To the best of my recollection, the setlist for the show was something like:

King Of The Mountain (an incredible opener: the energy of this was explosive and set the tone for the night)Dreamworld Put Down the Weapon Bullroarer The Dead Heart Stars Of Warburton Warakurna Forgotten YearsBest Of Both Worlds Shakers and MoversBlue Sky Mine (great lights on this number, going to a sort of blue sunset behind the band on the last note)River Runs Red One Country (just Garrett and Moginie on stools under a spotlight, with Moginie on a six-string acoustic)Bedlam Bridge Sell My Soul Beds Are BurningSometimes